In the computer industry, data storage systems, such as disk drives, have proven to be extremely useful as they allow computer users to store and retrieve information. Over time, computer users come to rely on their data storage systems. When the data storage system eventually fails, many of the users are not prepared and the result is that much, if not all, of the information they have stored on the system is lost. To avoid the loss, predictive failure detection methods have been developed to warn the user of an impending data storage system failure.
Previous predictive failure detection methods have been based on a bit error rate (BER) analysis which determines the number of bit errors relative to the number of bits transferred. These methods tend to be very slow because a BER analysis can take up to several minutes. For many users, this is an unsatisfactory use of their computer time.
Accordingly, objects of the present invention are to provide a new system and method for predictive failure detection.